CableLabs approves VCPS recording technology

CableLabs has approved a recording technology jointly developed by Philips and Hewlett-Packard that enables consumers to make limited home recordings of cable programming.

Under the FCC plug and play rules, CableLabs may approve new digital outputs and recording technologies for use in unidirectional digital cable ready (DCR) devices.

The video content protection system (VCPS) allows cable content marked as copy once to be burned onto VCPS-enabled DVD+R and DVD+RW optical digital media. The CableLabs approval extends to all DCR products built in compliance with standards and regulations applicable to unidirectional digital cable products, as well as to both unidirectional and bi-directional products built to the OpenCable specifications.

Under license agreements with CableLabs, DCR manufacturers may obtain the confidential information necessary to build products compatible with the cable industry’s CableCARD removable security modules, and may include secure outputs and recording technologies as approved by CableLabs. A separate license from Philips is required for VCPS adopters to obtain the information and licensing rights needed to implement the recording technology.

In a step toward secure links among consumer devices, industry consortium CableLabs, along with the “5C” technology companies and major Hollywood studios, announced approval of DTCP-IP (Digital Transmission Copy Protection over IP) technology for unidirectional and bidirectional digital cable products.

Scientific-Atlanta's new Point of Deployment (POD) module has received qualified status from CableLabs, meaning that new DTV's will be able to receive and decrypt digital cable programming using a POD instead of a stand-alone set-top. S-A created the POD, a small plug in card, to further the "Plug and Play" MOU betwee

CableLabs has licensed its DFAST encryption technology, which it says plugs a crucial copy protection hole in the just approved plug-and-play standard approved by the FCC. The Dynamic Feedback Arrangement Scrambling Technique encryption technology represents a level of copy protection unavailable with point-of-deploym

The FCC has approved 13 new copy protection technologies that comply with the commission's 2003 broadcast flag decision. The most controversial approval involved TiVo's proposed technology that would allow its PVR users to share copies of digital programming over the Internet; a plan vigorously opposed by the Motion

CableLabs, the consortium of cable companies tasked with developing new cable technologies, has announced that it has approved the first devices to offer plug & play compatibility with DTV sets. Sony, Hitachi and LG Electronics (Zenith) have all received approval from CableLabs for their unidirectional digital cable p